


I Should Have Seen

by Alienboy8 (orphan_account)



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Abuse, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Anxiety Disorder, Bullying, Child Abuse, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Other, Physical Abuse, Self-Hatred, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-16
Updated: 2015-06-16
Packaged: 2018-03-01 18:26:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2783189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Alienboy8
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was fall, September the 7th, First day of Mike Schmidt senior year at a new school. Being someone who will stand up to anyone he makes a new friend in a rather odd way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, so, I have a few things to say.  
> Feel free to skip over this if you don't want to read an apology, an explanation, a credit, and a warning. 
> 
> One, this is a highschool au but I am homeschooled, and I have VERY little knowledge of how highschools work, I've been researching things and asking friends for help, but still I will mess some things up. If you'd like to correct anything I do wrong, feel free to do so.  
> E D I T:   
> i originally planned to make this a nonship fic, but it turned into a shipfic because im shipper trash so oo   
> Three, a lot of scenes will come from tumblr user MysticBacon, I asked permission to use her scenes beforehand and I got the okay, and I highly recommend going to her blog!!  
> Four, this fanfic will have a lot of rather triggering scenes in it, such as abuse from Jeremy's dad, implied self harm, and a lot of anxiety. If any of these things could trigger you, please read with caution or don't read it at all, I don't want anyone to get hurt by my words. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! I'm open to scene suggestions and character relationship suggestions!

It was fall, September the 7th, First day of Mike Schmidt senior year. This year was the year you made it or you didn’t, or at least that’s what people said. It was the year where everyone was chiller, or at least that’s what people said. The year where everyone had everything figured out, Mike didn’t believe that last part at all. 

While he knew this year was the year he would have to find a job, start looking for a place to live, think about his future, such as college. He tried to postpone thinking about all those things. Coming from an upper-middle-class family he didn’t have to worry too much about money for college, or getting a job. But it was still, to his definition, stressful. 

The only thing on his mind right now as he rode to school on the bus was who he was going to meet at this new school. Mike had moved to Oregon last summer with his mom, and while he was a ‘keep to yourself’ kind of guy, his mom was pressuring him to “make some new friends!” And as much as he didn’t like ‘making new friends’ he knew his mother was right and that he couldn’t spend the entire school year without a friend, he would certainly try not to but it was inevitable that even if he was a soggy ass the entire time, he would probably make at least one friend. That’s what had happened at his last school, anyway. 

 

After he got off the bus, the rest of the day just kind of happened in a blur. Go to the front office, go to homeroom, go to class, go to class, go to class. It was just like at this old school with the only differences being the students and teachers. He got approached by a few people wanting to ‘say hi to the new kid’, but other than that he was left alone. He had to stand up in front of the class, introduce himself, all of that stereotypical junk. 

Most things just weren’t worth noticing, so he didn’t remember most of the day once it had passed. A few thing he had noticed, a kid who looked like he had been about to throw up when the teacher called on him to read out-loud in English- who then stuttered a mile a minute when he did start reading, a very pretty girl in his chemistry class, that same stuttering boy hyperventilating in gym, and at lunch a guy with purple hair that had most of the girls (and even a few guys) swooning over him.  
Other than that, the day was uneventful. 

He walked out of the school building, planning on walking home. While he took the bus in the morning he would either have him mom pick him up or walk home after school. He had done that at his old school and he would be doing it again here. 

While walking he heard something, the sound of a frightened yelp and then laughing, an all too familiar sound to him. He made a U turn and a b-line to the source of the noise, and when he got there he was greeted by three boys by a dumpster, sounding things into it. The scene would look rather odd if Mike couldn’t hear a muffled stutter coming from the trash container. 

“Hey!” Mike shouted, trying to speak with authority.  
The three people turned around to now look at him.  
“Oh hey, it’s the new guy.” Said one of them, the shortest of the three, “move along you got nothing to see here.”  
Jesus Christ, what a cliché line on that guy’s part.  
“I don’t know about that, who’s in the dumpster?” Mike said, again trying to make himself sound bigger than he actually was. Even though he was 5’11” the tallest of the three boys could easily pick him up and throw him in the dumpster as well.  
“No-one of your concern, move along.” He said, instructing Mike to just leave once again.  
“I think you should ‘move along’,” Mike said, in a mocking tone of the other guys, which made the short one glare at him. 

Next thing Mike knew, he was also in the dumpster, coughing as some pretty foul odors got in his nose and mouth. 

“O-O-Oh g-god, I-I-I, Oh my god.” Said a voice beside him, barely intelligible with all the coughing and stuttering; Mike looked over to see that asthmatic boy from gym in the dumpster beside him, “Oh my g-god I am so sorry, o-oh geez my dad is going to kill me.”  
Mike raised an eyebrow at the boy beside him.  
“Hey, calm down, okay. I think they left, it’s fine.” He said, a little bit concerned for the panicked brunette.  
The boy looked over at him, letting Mike see his face for the first time. All Mike could say for his appearance is that his facial expression seemed to be the personified question mark. He looked startled and confused, brown hair covering his eyes, skin way too pale to be healthy, skinny as hell. No wonder he was being picked on, he seemed to be a perfect target for bullies with his appearance. 

"Looks like we're both trash now, huh?" Mike said with a joking, sly smile.  
The boy looked at him for a few seconds with an exasperated expression, still shaking.

“Why don’t you just calm down and tell me your name?” Mike said, trying to calm the boy down by taking his mind off of what was happening right now; engaging him in a conversation seemed to be the best option.  
“I-I’m…Jeremy.” Jeremy stated, his whole body was shaking and Mike was a little more than concerned now.  
“Alright Jeremy, I’m Mike, how about we get out of here?” He said, giving him a small reassuring smile. Jeremy nodded wordlessly. 

Since Mike was the taller of the two he climbed out first, then reached his hand down and pulled out Jeremy, who looked worse for wear then Mike did. His curly dark brown hair had a banana peel in it and his light blue sweater looked like it had been drenched in who knows what.  
Mike reached over and pulled the banana peel out of Jeremy’s hair.  
“Great source of potassium, but I don’t think the peel is edible.” He joked, trying to make the mood lighter. Jeremy said nothing but just looked at the ground. 

“So…” Mike said, Jesus this was awkward.  
“Do you have a ride home? The busses left already, and you don’t seem in fit condition to walk.”  
Jeremy’s face seemed to go from the question mark like expression to an exclamation point, a startled and surprised look. This kid was so weird.  
“No, I…I don’t…Have a ride home, but I-I’m fine.” He said; Mike didn’t buy it.  
“Fine, if you won’t let me give you a ride home at least let me walk you home, seriously kid you don’t look like you’re going to make it five feet without collapsing.” Mike insisted.  
“I get t-the feeling like y-you’re not going to let me say n-no.” Jeremy said.  
Mike smiled a bit, “damn right, let’s go.” 

They began walking down the street, Jeremy telling Mike where to turn.  
“So what year are you in?” Mike asked, trying to make small talk.  
“I’m a senior…”  
“Oh, really? I thought you were like a freshman or something, that’s why those people were picking on you.”  
“N-No…They’ve been doing that since middle-school.”  
“They never stopped?”  
“Why w-would they?”  
“…”  
“T-Thank you, by the way…For…standing up to them…”  
Mike felt so bad for this guy, how much must he have been bullied to make him such a nervous wreak?  
“Yeah, no problem.” Mike said, crossing his arms as they continued to walk. Now they were entering a trailer park of sorts. 

This was the kind of place where you could tell everyone here was a junkie or an alcoholic.  
“I can walk the rest of the way, m-my house is just o-o-over there.” He said, pointing to a trailer with faded grey panels.  
“You sure? I ca-.”  
“I-I’m sure…Please just…I-I’m fine.” He interrupted in an insisted manner, his voice was almost conveying the tone of certain dread, this made Mike even more concerned.  
“Alright, suit yourself….” He paused, “give me your phone number first.”  
“W-What?”  
“Give me your phone number, I want to text you.”  
This seemed to surprise Jeremy more than anything.  
“O-Okay…” He reached in his pocket and took out his phone, reading off a series of numbers. Mike repeated them back, double checking. Jeremy nodded. Then they went their separate ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HHi!! I'd just like to add that Jeremy isn't going to be this stuttering and scared the entire time, he's just really nervous because well he did just get thrown in a dumpster and had to react to meeting a new person when he's really bad at meeting new people.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day at a fair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to have this chapter be angst but then I realized I was relying way to heavily on angst and that's not what a good author should do!!   
> So, instead have some cute day at the fair fluff with some more friends!!

[MIKE:] So, are you coming?   
[JEREMY:] coming? where?   
[MIKE:] The October fair or whatever, my mom said she’d pay for everything so I thought hey why not.   
[JEREMY:] are you asking me if im coming or inviting me?   
[MIKE:] Inviting.   
[MIKE:] A few other people are coming with us, you in?   
[JEREMY:] depends…who else is coming?  
[MIKE:] Just some people I met a few days ago, uh, kid named Fritz a year below us.   
[MIKE:] That creepy purple haired guy, Vince.   
[JEREMY:] i always feel like hes about to slit my throat…  
[MIKE:] Yeah, me too.   
[JEREMY:] that it?  
[MIKE:] One more guy, Scott.   
[JEREMY:] that redhead that has like five phones on him at all times??  
[MIKE:] Yep.   
[JEREMY:] okie dokie.   
[MIKE:] Did you just say okie dokie?   
[JEREMY:] well no, i typed it.   
[MIKE:] You are actually a 50 year old dad I can’t believe this.   
[JEREMY:] :)) son.   
[MIKE:] Stop.   
[JEREMY:] :)) my child.   
[MIKE:] Stoooop.   
[MIKE:] Are you coming or not?  
[JEREMY:] ah…sure why not…i have to be home before 8 though   
[MIKE:] Can do, I’ll be there to pick you up in ten minutes.  
[JEREMY:] okie dokie.   
[JEREMY:] son.   
[MIKE:] Stop this. 

 

-an hour later-

“And so I stabbed her, seven times.”   
Silence in the van for half a minute.   
“That is the most made up story I’ve ever heard in my life.” Fritz piped up, readjusting his glasses as he looked at Vincent skeptically.   
“It’s the truth; she was in the hospital for two months.”   
“Bullshit.” Mike said from the drivers’ seat, his eyes flickering from Vincent’s seat in shotgun to the road.   
“Then why aren’t you in jail?” Jeremy asked.   
All eyes were on Vincent as he paused for effect, then he grinned that creepy grin that was way too wide and then shrugged. “Good lawyers.”   
“U-huh, yeah, sure.” Scott said rolling his eyes, “I was with you that night and you did not stab her seven times in the stomach, you stabbed her twice, in the foot.”   
“Yeah okay so maybe I changed a few details.”   
Everyone in the car rolled their eyes. 

“We’re here.” Mike said as he pulled his mothers van into a parking lot outside the county fairgrounds.   
“Finally, I’m starving.” Fritz said, heaving a heavy sigh.   
“Didn’t you eat before we left?” Jeremy asked the other.   
“Yeah, your point being?”   
“…” 

Everyone got out of the car and walked to the gates, using the money Mike’s mother had given them, they all went inside, got something to eat, then decided on a ride.   
Vincent wanted to go into the haunted house, before anyone could either agree or deny this request he walked away, obviously having his own intentions here.  
“S-Should we go after him?” Jeremy asked.   
“I will, meet you guys back here in half an hour.” Scott said with a heavy sigh, and then chased after Vince.   
“So, what ride should we go on first?” Mike asked, rolling his eyes at the fading figures of Vincent and Scott. 

“How about the tilt-t-whirl?” Fritz suggested.   
“Sounds g-good to me.” Jeremy said with a large smile.   
The three of them walked around until they found the large circular ride, the waited in line for ten minutes before they actually got to go on the ride. They all got in next to each other and then the ride started.   
The reactions were near instant, Mike looked frightened and panicked and he began swearing loudly, Fritz’s looked like he was about to throw up, and Jeremy was giggling with panicked and childlike intensity. 

After they got off the ride Fritz’s stumbled like a drunken man to the nearest trash-bin where he promptly threw up.   
Jeremy was still giggling, his dark brown curls windswept but still intently covering his eyes.   
And Mike just looked a little grumpy and dizzy.   
“T-That was great!” Jeremy said, with such childlike delight it was like this was the first time every going to a fair or something.   
“Yeah, speak for yourself.” Fritz’s said as he walked away from the trash-bin, wiping his mouth on his sleeve.   
“I think I’m going to stay here for now…Wait for Vince and Scott. You guy’s go ahead.” He said, groaning with an upset stomach. 

Before Mike could let out a word of protest or anything Jeremy had grabbed Mike’s hand and dragged him away, shouting “come on, Mike!”   
Mike was dragged to the scariest and tallest of all the roller coasters at the fair.   
“Let’s go on this one.” Jeremy suggested, Mike looked at him in confusion.   
“Are you sure? This thing looks pretty deadly.”  
“Yes I’m sure, come on, l-let’s do it!”   
“You act like this is the first time you’ve ever been to a fair before.” Mike said with an amused smile.   
“Well, it is.”   
“Really?”   
“Yeah…I-I mean, my family never really had money for these kinds of things s-so…”   
Mike nodded in understanding, “I see. Well, I’m glad I could take you today then.”   
Jeremy grinned, then grabbed Mike’s hand and dragged him away again. 

-Hours later- 

It was nearly 5’pm and the sun was now setting, it was a good thing this place was open after dark. After going on every roller coaster Jeremy could find, having lunch, then going in the haunted house where they got kicked out because Vincent kept scaring the workers instead of them scaring him (and also Fritz’s accidently punched one of them in the face), everyone was near ready to go home. 

Vincent and Scott were arguing about something that nobody could make out as they walked out of the park and got into the car.   
Fritz’s was holding his head because he had a terrible headache.   
Jeremy was looking like he just had the best time of his life.   
And Mike just looked tired, like a parent who just took their children to the beach and made them swear not to get in the water, but of course they got in the water anyway and then they complained the entire way home that they had gotten wet, kids that’s your own fault, sound have listened to mommy. 

Mike dropped everyone off at their houses, Fritz’s was first, he got out of the car, thanking Mike for taking him and saying that he’d talk to him on Monday and all.   
Vincent got off at the same stop as Scott; apparently Vincent was spending the weekend at Scotts.   
“Why do you guys hang out so much? Don’t you guys like…Hate each other?” Jeremy asked as he also got out of the car to sit up front with Mike now that the seat was empty.   
Vincent looked confused then grinned, “no of course not, we’re dating.” He said, with a swift movement he kicked the back of Scott’s legs, Scott fell backwards and Vincent caught him and began leaning down for a kiss, which Scott rejected and began pushing Vincent away, screeching at him to “stop this right now!! I can’t stand pda!!”   
Jeremy burst out laughing as they drove away. 

As Jeremy got out of the car he hesitated for a moment, his hand lingering on the door handle.   
“Thanks for this, Mike. It was fantastic.” He said, you could hear the smile in his voice.  
“Yeah man, no problem. I’ll have to take you again some time.” He said with a shrug.   
Jeremy turned to him and grinned, “That’d be great!” Then he hopped out of the car and began walking away, into the trailer park where he lived, then out of sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha okay so that Scott/Vincent at the end was for my friend stovie the biggest memer I know<33  
> also it's my fave trash ship soo.   
> (imshippertrashdontlookatme)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys have no idea how badly I want to make this a ship fic now I'm so angry at myself.

Nearly two months had passed since Mike had met Jeremy, after the events of the dumpster and the fair they had become pretty close friends. Sitting together at lunch with a few other people every day, texting each other every once and a while, Mike had noticed that Jeremy kind of fawned over him a bit, maybe he looked up to him or this was just something he regularly did? Mike didn’t know.

It was the weekend, his mom was away on a business trip and he had no plans. He kind of wanted to invite Jeremy over, he had done so before but Jeremy had refused, saying that if he stayed out too late his dad would get mad.  
Mike didn’t know much about Jeremy’s parents other than Jeremy seemed to be really concerned about what his dad thought and how his dad would react to things. It was off-putting but some people just liked to have approval from their parents he guessed. 

But Mike was still bored out of his mind, he had spent the entire summer alone and while he did enjoy the silence there was nothing good on cable and his internet wasn’t working so watching something online was out of the option.  
Mike sighed and pulled out his phone from his pocket, worth a shot he guessed. 

[MIKE:] Wanna come over?  
[JEREMY:] now?  
[MIKE:] Yes, now.  
[JEREMY:] idk…  
[MIKE:] Do you have other plans or something?  
[JEREMY:] no but…  
[MIKE:] Then why don’t you want to come over?  
[JEREMY:] my dad.  
[MIKE:] As much as I’m all for ‘abiding by authority’ and all, you shouldn’t let your dad keep you from hanging out with your friends.  
[JEREMY:] …  
[MIKE:] Well?  
[JEREMY:] yeah i guess youre right.  
[MIKE:] Of course I am.  
[MIKE:] Need a ride?  
[JEREMY:] how about we meet halfway?  
[MIKE:] Alright, sounds good. How about at the park?  
[JEREMY:] ok. 

 

“Are your p-parents not home or something?” Jeremy asked as he walked into Mike’s house, taking his shoes off and placing them by the door.  
“My mom’s gone for the weekend, yeah.”  
Jeremy nodded as they walked into the living room, sitting on the couch.  
They sat down, Mike offering Jeremy a soda which he denied; they sat in silence for a while.  
“So what’s up with your dad?” Mike asked abruptly, making Jeremy do that thing where his face seemed to go from a question mark to an exclamation mark.  
“What….What do you mean?” Jeremy questioned.  
“Well, you have so many hold-ups about hanging out with people and you say it’s because you don’t want your dad to get angry about you being out to late?”  
“Yeah…I mean, it’s pretty reasonable…He’s pretty…O-Over protective.”  
“I see…”  
“Y-Yeah and I mean with my thing and all that I guess I don’t really mind, I-I mean I don’t like ha-hanging out with people too much anyway.”  
“You’re thing?”  
Jeremy’s face lit up.  
“Y-Yeah, didn’t I tell you? About the…Thing?”  
“No you did not.”  
“Oh…my thing is…Oh geez...uh.” He said, like this was hard to say.  
Mike noticed a few things has Jeremy was trying to speak, that Jeremy’s breathing got a little heavier, he became shaky, and his voice became a lot more quiet.  
“Hey are you alright?”  
“Y-Yeah I’m fine.” He said, his voice sounded unstable, like he was about to cry or something. “I-I’m sorry I-I…J-Just haven’t…” He said, rambling now out of nerves.  
“Is it anxiety?” Mike asked, his mom took two years of psychology before going to vet school, he knew basic disorders from old books his mom had laying around, he honestly didn’t know why he hadn’t pieced together that Jeremy had anxiety before, Jeremy did shake a lot, look panicked when people tried talking to him, looked like he was about to die when called on in class, it was fairly obvious.  
“…Y-Yeah. S-Sorry I just-”  
“It’s okay man, I understand. Not really something you can help I guess.” Mike said with a shrug.  
This made Jeremy smile a little, relived that Mike hadn’t freaked out or called him weird or anything.  
“T-Th-Thanks.” 

 

A bit later after Jeremy had calmed down, and the internet had come back on, Jeremy suggest they watch Netflix, Mike agreed.  
“What do you want to watch?” Mike asked.  
Jeremy looked at the TV for a second.  
“I don’t know, how about an anime?”  
“An ana-what?”  
“A-Anime? You know, like…Manga and stuff?”  
“I don’t want anything to do with your mangos.”  
“N-No! It’s manga, they’re like…Japanese comics?”  
“If they’re Japanese then how can you read them?”  
“Well they translate them to English…”  
“Hmm.”  
“C-Come on, just watch one episode of an anime with me.”  
“Fine, fine. I’ll watch your damn mangos.”  
“It’s m- you know what never mind.” He said rolling his eyes.  
This made Mike smile; he hardly got to see Jeremy not freaking out, so this was nice. 

-Half an hour later-

“That was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” Mike said with a disapproving look on his face.  
Jeremy shook his head, “well you have to watch more than one episode to get it…”  
“You said just one episode.”  
“I-I know what I said, but-.”  
“Just play the next episode.” Mike said gruffly.  
Jeremy’s face lit up with a grin. 

-2 hours later- 

“Play the next episode…” Mike ordered, now he was engrossed in this stupid pointy chinned fiesta.  
There was no response.  
“…Jeremy?”  
Again no response, he looked over at the other boy to see he had his head on the arm rest of the couch and had fallen asleep. He sighed softly then smiled, going over to a closet and pulling out a spare blanket, putting it on Jeremy, then grabbing one for himself and sleeping on the other couch in the room. 

-Noon- 

A panicked shriek is what woke up Mike.  
He opened his eyes to see Jeremy sitting up way quicker than should be natural for someone who looked like he just woke up.  
“W-What’s wrong?” Mike muttered, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.  
“I-I-I fell asleep! O-Oh my god my dad is going to kill me, oh my god, oh my god.”  
This was the most panicked Mike had seen Jeremy, and he had seen Jeremy get really panicked before.  
“It’s okay. It was an accident…I’ll just drive you home, come on.” 

Mike drove Jeremy home, the entire time Jeremy had his face in his hands, like he was trying to suffocate himself or something.  
“If I don’t come into school on Monday assume I’m dead.” Jeremy said.  
Mike laughed nervously.  
“Stop being so overdramatic, I’m sure your dad will understand.”  
“Yeah, alright, if you say so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I make it a ship fic? Like Jeremy and Mike dating in later chapters? I'm really tempted to do it too because I just....my children you are so gay for each other screams.  
> I don't know, it's up to you guys, if you want me to make them date I'm totally up for it but if you guys came here for some good old friendshiping then I'll keep it going that way. 
> 
> Tell me what you think! :DD


	4. Chapter 4

A loud buzzing noise is what woke Mike up a week after Jeremy had stayed at his house. During that week Jeremy had grown quieter, more withdrawn than usual.   
Mike looked around trying to find the source of the buzzing, the culprit ended up being his phone. But this wasn’t his alarm clock, how could it be, it was in the middle of the night and it was the Friday of a four day weekend; rubbing his eyes he saw a caller ID on the screen of his phone, oh, someone was calling him.   
It was Jeremy. This struck Mike as odd for two reasons, one, Jeremy had mentioned that he hated phone calls with a passion, and two, it was 2am.   
Rubbing his eyes for another second he picked up the ringing phone.   
Stifling a yawn, he muttered, “You better have a good ex-.” Before he could even finished the sentence Jeremy cut him off.   
“Can you come and pick me up?”   
“What?!”   
“P-Please…I-I’ll explain l-later.”   
“Alright, Alright, I’m on my way, where are you?”   
“The park, y-you know the one?”  
“Yeah, sure, I’ll be there soon.”   
Mike got out of bed, pulling ondirty jeans and putting on some shoes, then leaving a note for his mom in case she woke up while he was gone, a simple note reading. “A friend’s in trouble, went to go help, be back soon –Mike,” in chicken-scratch writing. Then he left. 

 

Now that Mike was rubbing off on Jeremy he had grown a little more confident,, started talking to more people. But all progress Jeremy had been making at battling his anxiety had near vanished after that night that Jeremy had fallen asleep at Mike’s house. That’s all Mike could think about while he drove to the park. 

Mike didn’t know if his friends’ anxiety was just getting worse or if something bad was going on, he wanted to talk to Jeremy about it but whenever he brought it up Jeremy changed the subject. He didn’t drop it, but if he pressed it too much then Jeremy got upset or sometimes even angry, it wasn’t often but even the shyest and kindest people had their breaking points. The worst part about it was when Jeremy got angry it wasn’t even ‘fuck off’ anger it was wet anger, the kind that made you sad because you could see the tears well up in his eyes and you could hear his voice start shaking. 

He pulled up to the streetlight lit park where he saw a shadowy figure sitting at the top of the slides. Mike turned off his moms’ car and began walking to the figure. The closer he got the more he could distinguish that the figure was Jeremy, he was shaking and maybe even…Oh no.   
“Jeremy?”   
No response.   
“Are you…Are you crying?”   
Again, no response.   
Mike climbed up the ladder onto the play-set and made his way to the slides, sitting on the one right next to Jeremy.   
“What happened?” He asked.   
Jeremy was quiet for a second, then he responded, “My mom- she…”   
Jeremy’s mom? Mike had never even heard Jeremy mention his mom before, maybe in passing but he had never really thought about it too much.   
“Yeah?” He questioned, his breath baited.   
“Her condition, it…S-She got worse.” Jeremy had definitely been crying.   
“Her condition?”   
“She…A f-few years ago she…When I was maybe 10? 11?” He paused, as if he was trying to find the right way to words thing, “she got in an….accident….M-Massive trauma to the b-brain. S-She was in a c-coma for M-Months…S-She g-got better but t-then she got…worse.”   
Mike looked at him patiently.   
“T-Tonight w-we…Me and my d-dad got t-the call that s-she’s gone back into…A c-coma.” Jeremy said, he had started hyperventilating before he even finished the sentence.   
Mike sat there in shock, not sure how to react; he just sat there in silence as Jeremy calmed down a bit.   
“Then why are you here?”   
“My d-dad, w-when I t-told him about it… he got really…Angry...H-He told me t-to get out of the house, he di-didn’t care where I went I j-just had to…leave.” He said, his voice still unstable. “I-I’m s-sorry but you’re the o-only person I could think to c-call.”  
This made Mike angry, who the hell kicked their kid out of the house at 2 in the morning for delivering bad news, especially when this concerned his mother. He didn’t voice his opinion though, he felt like saying anything negative against Jeremy’s father would only upset him more. 

“Come on.” He said standing up.   
Jeremy looked up at him, his bangs covering his eyes, it was amazing and weird that Mike had never even seen his friend’s eyes, but that was a thought for another time.  
“W-What?”  
“I said come on, you’re staying at my place for the night,” he paused, “or whenever your ‘dad wants you home’.” He said the last part with a bitter tone.   
“O-Okay.” 

As Mike pulled into his drive-away the first thing he noticed was the kitchen lights were on, great, this meant his mom had woken up.   
Him and Jeremy got out of the car and walked into the house, the first thing he was greeted with was a, “Michael, you get in here right now.” It was his mom, she used that tone; we all know the tone, the tone you associate with Molly Weasly with.   
“Coming~” Mike said, he used that tone; we all know the tone, the tone you associate with the Weasly twins.   
He walked into the kitchen, Jeremy following behind him wordlessly.   
“Where were you?” Mike’s mom said in a shrill voice.   
“I just went down to the park.”   
“What for?” She asked, her arms folded against her chest.   
“To pick up a friend, mom, calm down.”   
“A friend?” She asked, and then she spotted Jeremy in the doorway. “Oh my…” She said with a small sigh, her tone seemed to soften once she realized there was someone else in the room.   
“Yeah…he needed a place to stay and I offered to let him stay here, he needed a ride so I picked him up, it was kind of an emergency.”   
“What kind of emergency could make you leave the house at 2 in the morning?”   
“I told you, he needed a place to stay.”   
“And why’s that?”   
Mike sighed loudly, like he was completely done with his mothers having to know every detail of everything. 

Jeremy piped up then, “m-me and my dad got in a fight, I had to get away…for a while... I-I’m sorry for disturbing y-you.” He said nervously, obviously terrified of Mike’s mother.   
The woman’s facial expression changed from stern to motherly worry in half a second.   
“No…No, its fine, sweetie. I was just worried about Mikey.” She said softly, giving Jeremy a small smile which he returned nervously. Obviously his nerves and stuttering had struck some kind of sweet spot in Mike’s mom, motherly instinct and all that, Jeremy’s mom had been the same way.   
“Can we go?” Mike asked gruffly, making his mother sigh.   
“Yeah, yeah, sure go back to bed.” She said shaking her head. 

 

Mike lay on the floor, even after many protests on Jeremy’s part that he would be fine on the floor or that he would just go sleep downstairs like before, Mike had forced him to take his bed. Being a good person had its ups and downs, this was a down. 

Mike was just falling asleep when a voice from above him asked a question.   
“What?” Mike asked, not hearing what Jeremy had said.   
In a hushed tone Jeremy repeated his question.   
“Where’s your dad?”   
Mike was silent.   
“I-I’m sorry, I was just…curious I shouldn’t have…asked…” Jeremy said, his voice panicky.   
“Your mom?” Jeremy questioned, his tone sounding like he was smiling a bit.   
“What do you mean?”   
“Your mom, like do y-you have two moms? I shouldn’t make assumptions.”   
Mike snorted a bit, “I don’t have two moms; my mom isn’t gay or bi or anything.”   
“Oh.”   
Silence for a little bit. 

“What about you?” Jeremy asked, Mike groaned, Jeremy was the kind of person who asked a lot of questions if he couldn’t sleep, wasn’t he?   
“What about me what?”   
“Are you?”   
“Am I what, Jeremy, spit it out.”   
“G-Gay, or bi, or w-whatever…”   
Silence.  
“I’m not sure.”   
“Oh.”   
“Yeah.” 

Mike closed his eyes, and then his curiosity got the best of him.   
“Well, what about you?”   
“W-What about me what?” Jeremy asked, mirroring Mike’s response.   
“Are you gay or bi or whatever.” Mike said, mirroring Jeremy’s.   
Jeremy audibly sighed, “I-I looked it up and I’m a thing called asexual?”   
“What’s that even mean?”   
“I uh…don’t feel sexual attraction? To like…anyone.”   
This made Mike sit up.   
“Wait really? Ever?”   
Jeremy sat up as well.   
“N-Nope. I’ve never really seen anyone as ‘hot’. I still want to date people, romantically…But, sexually I just kind of…g-gross.”   
“You said you like people…Romantically?”   
“Yeah, I-I-I mean dating is cool, like kissing and stuff, and I-I don’t really mind gender at all, I get crushes on g-girls…guys…you name it….”   
“That’s …”   
“W-Weird I know.”   
“Yeah…Kind of…”   
“Do you think I’m weird?”   
“…”   
“…”   
“Kind of.”   
“D-Do you uh…Mind it…I mean…are we still friends?”   
It was such a childish question but it sounded like Jeremy was about to break, like his throat has collapsed and he was shaking again.   
“Yeah, of course we are!” Mike said, quick to reassure Jeremy. 

“T-T-Thanks.” Jeremy said, his voice still unstable but calmer. The two of them laid back down, then there was silence.   
“night…Mike…T-Thanks for…”   
Mike interrupted him.   
“It’s no problem man, just…try and get some sleep.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> asexual panro jeremy because ahaha yesss   
> again, i need to know by next chapter if i should make this a ship fic or not, im going to do it if i get no responses sooo yeah


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so three things
> 
> one: sorry this chapter is really short, i've suddenly gotten writers block but I will keep updating! don't worry   
> two: hahahaha this is soooo going to be a ship fic  
> three: i keep forgetting to tell you guys what Mike and the others look like, so i'll do that in the notes at the end of the chapter

Mike woke up on Saturday morning, his back in knots. For a moment he didn't know why he was asleep on the floor, then the next second he remembered what had happened the previous night. He sat up and looked on his bed, it looked untouched and empty. For a second he worried Jeremy had left in the middle of the night until he heard laughter coming from downstairs. He stood up and walked down the stairs to find Jeremy and his mother cooking together. He almost couldn't believe his eyes, it was such a strange site.   
Jeremy was the first to notice Mike; he looked over to see Mike standing in the doorway and grinned at him. The first thing Mike noticed was Jeremy had pulled back his hair. His hair that were usually completely covered his eyes was now held back by a bobby pin borrowed from Mike’s mother. The second thing he noticed was that Jeremy’s eyes were the weirdest things he had ever seen. Both of them were an even shade of sky blue, but the right one definitely looked weird. As Mike walked into the kitchen he got a better look; Jeremy’s eyes were dominantly blue, his right eye was ¼ brown. Like whoever had been coloring in his eyes lost the blue pen so they just decided to smudge some brown in there and call it art. 

Jeremy noticed Mike staring and Mike saw him because nervous.   
“W-What’s with the staring?”   
Mike smiled in a dream like state, “so, you do have eyes. I was going to ask you about that.” He said, making Jeremy laugh a little. 

“So what’s going on down here? Did my mom make you make breakfast or something?”   
“No, no, I o-offered to help, I love cooking.” Jeremy said.   
Mike’s mother looked over, “he saw me cooking and offered to help and well I couldn't say no, but he had to get his hair out of his face first.” She said; rather proud that she had accomplished the feat of getting Jeremy to pull back his hair.   
“Good plan… I think you should do it more often Jeremy, your eyes are nice.” Mike agreed.   
This made Jeremy blush.   
Mike’s mom looked between them and then smiled slyly, making Mike mutter in a defensive tone, “what?!” 

After breakfast was served and eaten, Jeremy asked if he could use the shower and then went off to do his things. Mike stayed downstairs helping his mom do dishes.   
As mike put away a plate him mother voiced something that Mike had been dreading to hear, “so are you two dating?”   
“What? No?!” Mike said, his face turning scarlet.   
“Are you sure?”   
“Yes mom, I’m pretty sure, I think I would know if I was dating my friend.”   
“I don’t know, you two just seemed to…”  
“To what, mom?”   
“Never-mind.” 

Mike let out a frustrated sigh and walked away; walking up the stairs he made his way to his room, pausing in the hallway near the bathroom because he swore he had heard something. He stopped and listened for a moment, now he heard singing. Was Jeremy singing in the shower? Was Mike seriously stopping to listen? He couldn’t help himself; he didn’t even know Jeremy liked singing let alone that he could sing. And yes, he could sing. Jeremy’s singing voice was nervous and soft, but melodical; it broke off sometimes when he got too high but it was pleasant. And all of a sudden Mike’s world collapsed of him, oh god, he definitely had a crush on Jeremy. Cupping his face in his hands he shook his head, he could not have a crush on Jeremy, no, no way. 

He heard the shower turn off and that was his cue to leave, he walked into his room and sat on his bed, staring out the window it was positioned under.   
Jeremy walked in Mike’s room, his hair still damp but fully clothed.   
“Oh h-hey!” Jeremy said brightly, smiling at Mike.   
Mike smiled back; Jesus was Jeremy’s smile always that cute? Damn, fuck, no, that was gay stop that.   
“So, do you need a ride home or do you want to spend another night?” Mike asked. Jeremy looked at the ground then shrugged, “I guess I should go home today, last time I was kicked out if I stayed away from the house for more than a night my dad got pretty pissed.”   
“You say that like him kicking you out is a regular thing.”   
“…It kind of is a lot of the time, he has a temper. He’s working on getting better but…”   
“But he’s not.” Mike said in an irritated voice.   
“N-No, h-he is, I mean. He’s not as bad as he used to be.”   
“And how bad did he used to be?”   
“Not important, p-plus I don’t like talking about it.”   
“Jeremy.” Mike said in a demanding tone.   
“Mike, really, I don’t like to t-talk about it can you just drop it.” He said, his smile having long since faded.   
“Fine, sure.” Mike said grumpily.  
Jeremy sighed, “Don’t worry about me Mike, I…I can take care of myself.”   
Mike sighed as well, “come on, I have to run some errands for my mom anyway so let’s go.”   
“Alright.” 

Mike dropped Jeremy off at the trailer park he lived at.  
As Jeremy got out of the van Mike muttered, “Be careful Jeremy, and…text me soon, alright?”   
Jeremy looked confused but nodded, “I will…Bye, Mike.”   
“Bye, Jeremy.”   
And he drove away, his head spinning with all these new things he had to deal with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Appearances for this fic: 
> 
> Mike: tan skinned, cropped or maybe bald head? brown eyes, 5'11" and on the skinner side 
> 
> jeremy: pale skinned, messy curly brown hair thats usually always covering his eyes, blue eyes with a brown heterochromia thing going on in his right eye, 5'5" and on the skinner side 
> 
> fritz: tan skinned, messy curly ginger hair, blue eyes, 5'7", and on the chubbier side 
> 
> scott: brown skinned, messy straight bright red hair, brown eyes, 5'11" and an average build 
> 
> vincent: tan brown skinned, messy straight long purple hair that he has in a pony tail, blue eyes, 6'1", and an average build 
> 
> so yea


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayyy sorry i havent been uploading too regularly, with holidays and all i've been really busy, but!!! i will keep updating i swear!!!!!

It was winter break, two weeks off school. There had been a brief window in which school had resumed after the weekend in which Jeremy stayed at Mike’s house. In that brief window Mike had heard nothing from his friend, he had not seen him. He asked if the others had, but no Frit’s, Scott, or Vincent had heard a word from him.  
While Mike didn’t like to meddle in other people’s affairs he couldn’t help but become paranoid, his friend had been missing for nearly a week. 

Was he sick? No, unless he was deadly ill he would have texted him. Was he deadly ill? Mike pushed that thought to the back of his mind as he absent mindedly watched TV; again his mom was gone for the week. She was gone a lot of the time, dealing with lawyers, dealing with work, dealing with everything. It was rare if she was ever home. 

Again, he pushed this to the back of his mind. This was too much to deal with, his best friend was missing for almost a week, his mom would be gone the rest of the week until Christmas Eve, none of his friends from his old school had texted him back in nearly a month. Mike’s life was kind of shit right now. 

\- - - - - 

The phone rang, and for some reason Mike knew this was going to be bad news. No one called after 9pm to deliver good news.  
He walked over to the ringing phone and looked at the caller ID. It was an unknown number. This furthered his resolve that this must be bad news. 

He picked it up.  
“Hello?”  
“Hello, is there a Mike Schmidt home?”  
“That’s me.”  
“Oh! Hello Mister Schmidt, this is Cindy from ST-josephs-cares hospital, we’re sorry to inform you but there has been an accident regarding your friend (?) Jeremy.”  
“…”  
“…”  
“What happened?”  
“Well, I’m not doctor, so I can’t divulge too much information, but we have him in our care, I can give you the address and you can come at your earliest convince.”  
“Why was I contacted?”  
“You’re his second emergency contact, his Primary being his father but he-.”  
“Let me guess, he didn’t answer?”  
“No, we were hoping you would know as to where his whereabouts are?”  
“No, I don’t.”  
He hung up then, grabbing the keys to his mothers van, and leaving. 

\- - - - 

“He’s not awake, Mister Schmidt, you have to wait out here.” A nurse urged him as he asked for the seventh time if he could go in to see Jeremy yet.  
According to what Jeremy had told the doctor was, he had been walking to the store, been mugged, thrown against a wall after a fight, and then called 911 before blacking out. And for some reason, Mike found this story hard to believe. 

\- - - - 

“He’s awake.” A nurse came out of Jeremy’s room told him, without saying another word or asking for permission he walked into the room, only to find himself halting to a stop. Before him was one of the saddest sights he had ever seen in his life.

Jeremy was sitting on his bed in a hospital gown, his legs crossed as he watched a TV playing a children’s show in the corner of the room, his hair was pulled back by a headband, and what it showed was so saddening it made Mike want to start crying. Jeremy’s right eye was blackened, like he had received multiple punches to it. His lip was split on the left side. He had several cuts and bruises, the worst of which was on his forehead. But yet when Mike came in the room Jeremy looked over and gave him the most heartfelt and glad smile, it made Mike’s stomach fill with butterflies and his eyes fill with tears. 

He looked around until he noticed the doctor in the corner.  
“Ah, you must be Mike? Jeremy has been…Well, not speaking, about you.”  
Mike raised an eyebrow at him, and then looked at Jeremy questioningly. Jeremy just looked away, like he was ashamed for some reason.  
“What do you mean?” Mike asked.  
“Well…Mister Schmidt, I was unaware that no one had told you…Jeremy has suffered minor damage to the brain in his frontal lobe, while he did narrowly avoid becoming a victim of Akinetic mutism, he did damage his brain, it will heal…we hope… but Jeremy, as of the moment, is mute. We are unsure if his muteness was caused by the brain damage or the trauma from the event. We’re hoping that it will heal over time.”  
Mike stood there for a moment, processing what the doctor had said. Jeremy was mute.  
“Well…Fuck.” Mike said, he looked over at Jeremy, who was still looking away and out the window. 

“I know this is a lot to handle, but, Mister Schmidt-.”  
“Call me Mike, please.”  
“Alright, Mike, while you are of age Jeremy is not, it was unlawful of him to mark you as an emergency contact, and we only did contact you because we were hoping you would know where his father is.”  
“I don’t.”  
“I see…As you may be aware his mother is also in the hospital, so, until his father or another family member of age comes, he cannot be checked out. I thought I should inform you of this.”  
“Yeah, yeah…” As much as Mike wanted to fight this matter he felt like it would do no good, he couldn’t exactly break Jeremy out of the hospital or anything, god he felt helpless. 

\- - - - 

The doctor left the room, leaving Jeremy and Mike alone for the first time. Jeremy was still looking anywhere but at Mike, which was until Mike sat in the chair in front of him, practically making Jeremy look at him.  
Mike gave him a sad look which Jeremy returned with a sad smile.  
Jeremy looked around for a few moments, picked up a whiteboard, then a black marker. 

“I’m sorry.” He wrote, showing Mike.  
“What for?”  
Jeremy lifted his hand and wiped off the board with his arm, someone Mike noticed that he had not seen before was that Jeremy’s entire lower arm was wrapped in ace bandages.  
“For being reckless.” Jeremy wrote, holding up the whiteboard.  
“This isn’t your fault, Jeremy.” Mike said with a breathy sigh.  
“What’s with the arms?” Mike asked as Jeremy wrote something else, he was mostly trying to change the subject.  
Jeremy paused for a moment, then erased the few words he had already written on the whiteboard, making the bandages on his arms a slight smoky black.  
“When the person attacked me they pushed me down a few times and my arms got cut.” Jeremy wrote. Mike squinted at him.  
“Alright, sure.” He said, as if he didn’t believe him.  
Jeremy gave a guilty look at the floor, then looked away- out the window, and then looked at the TV, a classic sign for a liar was how bad they were at holding eye contact. 

But, Mike decided to drop it; Jeremy would tell him what had really happened when he felt like it.  
Or, at least Mike hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha ow


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY FU U UCK

Jeremy had been in the hospital for 3 days before his dad finally came to check him out.   
In those three days Mike had come and visited him every single day, bringing him stuff like chocolate bars and gatorade (which Mike found out was Jeremy's favorite drink); and when Jeremy had been checked out Mike only found out when Jeremy texted him at noon right before he was about to leave to visit him again.

[Jeremy:] mike im at my house.   
[Mike:] Someone checked you out?   
[Jeremy:] yeah my dad did.   
[Mike:] Oh really?   
[Jeremy:] yep...  
[Mike:] And where had he been the last three days?   
[Jeremy:] didnt i tell you? he went to visit his parents...its a day long trip so it took him a while to get here  
[Mike:] Is that so?   
[Jeremy:] yeah it is. why is it that you never seem to believe me?   
[Mike:] No no I believe you, I trust you, its your dad I dont like.   
[Mike:] You're afraid of him, I can tell. You start shaking and freaking out when ever you talk about him and the doctors might believe you but I don't buy the whole mugging story. You're a nice guy but the fact that you didn't want to call the police and try and find the person who attacked you is a little suspicious to me.   
[Jeremy:] wwha tdo you want me to say?   
[Mike:] I want you to tell me the truth.   
[Jeremy:] i canr   
[Mike:] You can't? So you are hiding something.   
[Jeremy:] mikep lease drop it  
[Mike:] Your typing is getting weird, are your hands shaking?   
[Jeremy:] pllease   
[Mike:] Jeremy please tell me what's going on, I want to help but I can't if you don't let me.   
[Jeremy:] [Jeremy is typing...] 

The reply never came.

Mike groaned and then walked up to his room, promptly screaming into his pillow. Then, being impulsive as he was he got up, grabbed the keys to his moms van and started driving. This was stupid, this was the worst thing he could possibly do, but he needed to make sure Jeremy was okay.

A short drive and he was at the trailer trailer park where Jeremy lived. He remembered Jeremy's house was the one with faded grey panels, he had only seen it once when they first met. He parked outside of it and without thinking, without making a plan as to what he was going to do, he got out of the car, walked to the door, and knocked. 

It took a minute or two but eventually the door opened and before him stood a man who did not look very much like Jeremy, but who Mike assumed was Jeremy's dad. Really all they shared was the dark curly hair and blue eyes, apart from that they looked very different. Jeremy's dad had a scraggly beard like he hadn't shaved in a week or two, dark undereyes, and an angry expression that Mike couldn't even imagine Jeremy wearing.   
"What?" The man asked, interrupting Mike's assessment of the man in front of him. 

"Is Jeremy home?"   
"What?" The man asked again, his arms crossing.   
"Is. Jeremy. Home." Mike said in a more demanding tone.   
"Who are you?"   
"I'm...I'm a friend of Jeremy's."   
"Mhm...And why are you here?"   
"Is Jeremy home?" Mike asked again, ignoring the question.   
"No." 

Mike squinted at him and opened his mouth but before he could talk there was a noise from inside the house that could only be Jeremy crying.   
Jeremy's dad tried to close the door but Mike stuck his leg in front of it and then his arm and forced his way into the house. He rushed around before Jeremy's dad could stop him, trying to find the source of the crying. 

"Get out before I call the police!" Jeremy's dad yelled but Mike ignored him. He had gone this far, he really didn't care anymore.   
After a minute he finally found himself pushing his way into a room where he saw a lump in a blanket that was shaking.   
"Jeremy?" Mike questioned.  
The lump sat up and sure enough it was Jeremy.   
He looked so fucking scared it made Mike's insides twist with anger and pity. 

"Come on." He demanded, walking into the room (which he assumed was Jeremy's bedroom) and pushed his back onto the door, keeping in closed. A good thing too because seconds later Jeremy's dad was banging on the door trying to get in. 

Jeremy shook his head like he didn't want to leave, or was too scared to.  
"Jeremy, come on, we need to go. Please." He said, his voice startled. Jeremy's dad was pushing on the door and almost pushed Mike over a few times. 

Jeremy got up and grabbed his school bag off the floor, rushed over to a dresser and grabbed some stuff wildly and pushed them into the bag and then gestured to the window. Mike nodded and Jeremy walked over and opened the window, he jumped out and then in a split second Mike ran to the window, jumping out, and the two of them got to the van and quickly got in before Jeremy's dad had been able to run back to the front door and chase them. 

"FINE. LEAVE. SEE IF I CARE." Mike heard Jeremy's dad scream before he shut the door and started the car, leaving the trailer park as quickly as humanly possible. 

When Jeremy and Mike got back to Mike's house they walked inside and Mike locked the door. Almost as soon as Mike locked the door, Jeremy went into hysteric's.   
He wrapped his arms around himself and buckled over, falling to his knees and sobbing wildly. Jeremy kept sobbing and shaking and Mike didn't know what to do, all he could do was watch as Jeremy had a breakdown, pulling at his hair and trying to cover his face to stop Mike from seeing what was happening; as if it wasn't obvious. 

Mike knelled down next to Jeremy and put his hands forward and grabbed onto Jeremy's because now Jeremy was scratching at his arms and Mike was scared he was going to hurt himself.   
"It's okay Jeremy, you're okay, please please calm down." He knew that wasn't something he should of said but it was all he could think to say.   
"You're safe it's okay." He said, keeping his tone quiet and gentle. 

Something Mike noticed was that Jeremy had dozens upon dozens of scars, some old and some still wounds, all up and down his arms.   
"Jeremy wh-." Before he could ask Jeremy had collapsed forward onto Mike so he was now sobbing onto Mike's chest.   
Mike decided to ask later and instead just stroked Jeremy's hair, muttering comforting words, and holding him closely in the hope that Jeremy would be alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU GUYS WAITED 7 MONTHS FOR THIS UPDATE BUT IM BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER 
> 
> but seriously sorry for the wait, so much happened and then writers block and then last night i was like   
> i should update that fanfic i havent updated since last christmas   
> SO HERE I AM


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> content warning: abuse mentions, self/victim blaming

Mike didn't know how it happened but when he woke up he found Jeremy curled up on the couch laying right next to him, arms wrapped around him. Looking over at the clock he discovered it was 5am. When had they fallen asleep? He didn't remember. When he shifted to untangle himself from Jeremy, Jeremy's eyes fluttered and he yawned. 

"Morning." Mike said with a small smile which Jeremy hesitantly returned. After a moment Jeremy seemed to realize he and Mike were basically on each others laps. He scooted away from Mike, a small blush on his cheeks. 

"How are you feeling?" Mike asked, Jeremy shrugged.   
"Still no progress on the whole speaking thing?"   
Jeremy shrugged again.   
Mike stood up then and walked around for a minute before finding a pen and paper. He handed the items to Jeremy who gave him a thankful smile.   
"So?"   
[i havent been able to talk too much since the hospital]   
"What do you mean too much?"   
[ive been able to say a few things, but it hurts my throat a lot and i dont like it]   
"I see." 

Just then a buzzing sound came from the backpack Jeremy had grabbed and Jeremy got up and rummaged around in it. Pulling out a phone and sitting down before clicking it on. 

"Is that your dad?" Mike asked, a little guiltily.   
Jeremy shrugged, and in an extremely wispy voice whispered, "nah."   
Mike gave him a small smile, which quickly faded when Jeremy reached up and brushed away his hair to look at the phone better and Mike noticed a few large new bruise on his eye. 

"Where'd you get that?" Mike asked, crossing his arms.   
Jeremy looked up, his hair falling back over his face and he made vague hand gestures to show he didn't know what Mike was talking about.   
"That bruise, on your eye." Mike sounded slightly irritated.  
"when I got mugged..." Jeremy whispered. Mike noticed his hands were shaking.   
"No, I saw your wounds when you were at the hospital, this is a fresh wound. I've been with you every day other than yesterday when I went and got you from your..." 

A realization dawned on him, it had been tugging at the back of his mind for a while now. An idea that had been trapped until just now. Like he had been telling himself, "no, that couldn't be right. Who would do that to Jeremy."   
But now that it finally came to him it was like he had been sitting on a train track for hours and the train had finally just hit him. 

"...House." Mike finished his sentence.   
Jeremy tense.   
"Jeremy, did your dad do this to you?"   
Jeremy shook his head.   
"Please don't lie to me."   
"I t-tri-tripped." Jeremy wheezed.   
"Please. Jeremy you're my best friend and I'm worried about you."   
Mike reached a hand forward to try and put a hand on Jeremy's shoulder and Jeremy flinched badly. 

At this Jeremy broke down.   
"I-It d-doesn't [cough] happen o-o-often. P-Please...I-I...It's m-my fault."   
Jeremy was shaking and his voice was going out every few words so he had to repeat them. He would reach a hand up every so often to rub at his eyes, trying to stop himself from crying.   
Mike was stunned into silence.   
"I-I provoke h-him, it- it's my fault, I [cough] I'm sorry. I-it's all my fault."   
"Is that what he's told you?" Mike said quietly.   
"I-It's true. H-He didn't have to tell me. It's my fa [wheeze, cough] fault." 

Mike scooted closer to Jeremy and reached a hand out (Jeremy flinched again) and put it on Jeremy's shoulder and hugged him. Jeremy fell into Mike's embrace and was silent but shaking. 

"It's not your fault, none of this is your fault. You're a victim, and it's never the victims fault. Ever. Nobody deserves to be treated like this. Least of all you. You've been through too much. You deserve to be safe.  
I love you, man." Mike was rambling now, but he realized Jeremy was sobbing again, and it dawned on Mike that this may very well the first time anyone had ever talked to him like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> time for some honey nut feelios


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the short chapter, i just wanted to introduce jake, who is my fnaf3 guard  
> phone dude (whos name is roger) will be introduced later probably??

After a while Jeremy calmed down, once he composed himself he sat up and rubbed at his eyes, sniffing a few times. But when he tried to speak again it only came out as air. Mike guessed he was all talked out for the now. 

Jeremy looked over grabbed his phone from where it was laying on the floor and grabbed the pen and paper as well.   
He sat back down next to Mike and awkwardly tried to scoot back into Mike's embrace, Mike was only too happy to accept this and put his arms back around Jeremy, who was texting someone now. 

[Jake:] heeyyyy nerd are u there????   
[Jake:] jeeeerrrreeemmmy yyyyy y y yyy  
[Jake:] dude seriously .. . where u at??   
[Jeremy:] sorry. something happened.   
[Jake:] :0   
[Jake:] oh sorry man...are you alright??  
[Jeremy:] yeah!! i am now anyway  
[Jake:] i seeeee   
[Jake:] anyway :u   
[Jake:] can i hang with you?? you didnt go to therapy yesterday so like i wasnt sure if you were dead or not  
[Jeremy:] my dad checked me out of the hospital, im at my friend mikes right now  
[Jake:] mike? sounds familiar  
[Jeremy:] ive talked about him before   
[Jake:] wait  
[Jake:] that mike?   
[Jake:] like *wink wink nudge nudge* mike??   
[Jeremy:] yeahh  
[Jake:] niiiice   
[Jake:] you havent answered my question tho..  
[Jeremy:] uh...right..let me ask mike since its his house and everything   
[Jake:] sweet :y 

Jeremy set his phone down and grabbed the pen and paper.   
["a friend of mine wants to know if he can come over? is that alright"]   
"Who is he?"   
["a friend from the hospital, they went to a group therapy thing with me..."]   
"Oh. Uh, yeah sure."   
Mike was a little upset, he had wished to spend the day with Jeremy alone. But, if he wanted to hang out with his guy then Mike wasn't going to argue.   
He wanted Jeremy to be happy. 

Jeremy gave Mike a smile before grabbing his phone and texting again. 

[Jeremy:] he said it was cool  
[Jake:] sweet! give me the address and i'll be over as soon as i can :v 

Jeremy gave Jake the address and sure enough, ten or so minutes later there was a knock at the door. Mike got up to answer it and Jeremy followed.   
When they got to the door Mike opened it, in front of them was a person with shaggy blue hair, dark tan skin (he assumed them to be Hispanic, maybe?) and big feminine brown eyes. 

Honestly Mike couldn't tell if the person in front of him was a boy or a girl. 

"Hey Jake." Jeremy croaked from behind Mike.   
"Jer!" Jake said excitedly. (Yeah, they had a feminine voice, but their name was Jake? Mike was confused, but he decided not to say anything.)   
Jake smiled at Mike.   
"And you're Mike? Right?"   
Jeremy stepped forward. 

"Mike [small cough] this is Jake, sh- I mean- he- he's a friend of mine."   
Jake beamed.   
"Yep that's me. Me and Jeremy were in a therapy group together for mute people or whatever."   
"Mute people? But you're-"   
"talking? Yeah lmao" Did he just say 'lmao' out loud? "I'm what they call a 'selective mute', like Jeremy. Nbd."   
Mike didn't like how this guy used chat lingo in real life, but he ignored it. 

"Anyway, nice to meet you, Mike." Jake stuck a hand out and Mike shook it tentatively.   
"Weak grip." Jake muttered, then blushed. "Sorry, no offense."   
"None taken." 

Jeremy ushered Jake away, leading him into the living room and Mike just crossed his arms, feeling extremely jealous.


End file.
